Phil Chandler, The Barefoot Beekeeper – Balanced beekeeping, top bar hives and how to get started

Phil Chandler, aka The Barefoot Beekeeper, is a Dartmoor based specialist in ‘balanced beekeeping’ using top bar and other hives. Balanced beekeeping comes somewhere in between ‘natural’ beekeeping and the more exploitative, chemical reliant forms of beekeeping. This balanced form of beekeeping is best suited to those of you who may just love having bees around you, or because you would like to nurture them for their pollination services or if you would just like a little honey for you and your family from time to time.

In this video, Phil shows you how you can make your own top bare hive and the ethos around balanced beekeeping. If you would like to know more including information on swarms etc. please visit his excellent site www.biobees.com, where you’ll find, as Phil says, a lot of free ‘stuff’ including top bar hive plans as well as the incredible, International Natural Beekeeping Forum. Phil’s YouTube channel is also a hub of excelling bee information and tutorials so do pop over to learn more. If you find this video interesting perhaps you would also like to consider making a donation to help support Friends of the Bees at https://friendsofthebees.org?

Now, without further ado, over here is a little bit about how to house a swarm in a top bar hive, with a second video below showing you how to make a hive for yourself. Over to you Phil….

And if that looked good, here are the basics to making a top bar hive ….